play-services-base versus -basement dependencies (AAR) in Android

Question

I found an xml file GoogleDependencyFlurryPlugin.xml

<dependencies>
<dependency><groupId>com.google.android.gms</groupId><artifactId>play-services-base</artifactId><version>8.4+</version></dependency>
<dependency><groupId>com.google.android.gms</groupId><artifactId>play-services-basement</artifactId><version>8.4+</version></dependency>
</dependencies>

and indeed an xml file GoogleDependencyPlayGameServicesPlugin.xml

<dependencies>
<dependency><groupId>com.google.android.gms</groupId><artifactId>play-services-games</artifactId><version>8.4+</version></dependency>
<dependency><groupId>com.google.android.gms</groupId><artifactId>play-services-plus</artifactId><version>8.4+</version></dependency>
</dependencies>

Now, at one point the former file had ONLY

play-services-base > OR < play-services-basement

and that seemed to cause a huge problem. AndroidJavaException: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: once running on a device.

Android experts, is it the case that if you have "base" you must have "basement" ... or perhaps vice versa?

Indeed, WRT play-services-games or play-services-plus, perhaps one/both of those depend in some way (or contradict?) base/basement?

Rumery

If you look in your app/build directory in Android Studio after compilation, you'll notice that basement has additional classes that base doesn't have. I.e. it has zze.class, which GooglePlayServicesUtil extends from. – Sauterne

Answer 1

The library play-services-basement is a dependency of play-services-base. It was introduced in Google Play Service version 8.1.0 to help to reduce the size of some other libraries like play-services-ads and play-services-analytics.

When you add play-services-base you automatically add also play-services-basement so it's not necessary to add the explicit dependency.

You can check the dependencies of every single library in your local Google repository.

For example for the library play-services-games open the file pom file that is located here:

extras/google/m2repository/com/google/android/gms/play-services-games/8.4.0/play-services-games-8.4.0.pom

this is the content of the file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd" xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.google.android.gms</groupId>
  <artifactId>play-services-games</artifactId>
  <version>8.4.0</version>
  <packaging>aar</packaging>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.google.android.gms</groupId>
      <artifactId>play-services-base</artifactId>
      <version>8.4.0</version>
      <scope>compile</scope>
      <type>aar</type>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.google.android.gms</groupId>
      <artifactId>play-services-drive</artifactId>
      <version>8.4.0</version>
      <scope>compile</scope>
      <type>aar</type>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

As you can see play-services-games depends on play-services-base and play-services-drive

Moneywort

Thanks for this incredible answer! So in fact, regarding the first file since it has play-services-base, actually there is no point adding play-services-basement - I've understood you correctly? Thanks! – Rumery

Yes, you are right, there is no point in adding play-services-basement if you already add play-services-base. – Moneywort

got it, thanks. for the other, since it uses play-services-games, do you mean I must include play-services-base and play-services-drive? Or did I misunderstand you? thanks... – Rumery

You don't need to explicitly add play-services-base and play-services-drive because they are automatically added since they are the dependency of play-services-games – Moneywort

Why don't I see play-services-base listed here: developers.google.com/android/guides/setup#split – Sauterne

The list identifies only the dependencies that map a public API. There are many different dependencies. You can see all the available dependencies in your local Google repository located here: <android-sdk>/extras/google/m2repository/com/google/android/gms/ – Moneywort

<rant>If you're Google and you already reached the base, you apparently only can go deeper by going to the basement :)</rant> – Catharina